Former English teacher and award-winning YA novelist Randy Ribay is back with Everything We Never Had (Kokila, Aug. 27). As Kirkus’ critic put it, this stirring work explores “struggles with identity against the backdrop of changes in American society” even as it offers “deep insights into intergenerational patterns.” Ribay answered our questions by email; his responses have been lightly edited for length and clarity.

The dreaded elevator pitch: What, briefly, do you tell people your latest book is about?

Everything We Never Had is a historical fiction YA novel about father-and-son relationships across four generations of a Filipino American family. Through intertwined timelines, you see each character at the age of 16 at a pivotal moment in their life and in history. Or: YA Filipino American Pachinko, except one-third the length.

What inspired you during the writing of Everything We Never Had? What were you reading, listening to, watching?

I first got the idea for the story after my son was born. Like most new parents, I began to think a lot about how I was raised. What did I want to keep? What did I want to leave behind? What did I still need to heal from? Thinking through those questions made me wonder how my own father might have answered them, which made me think of how his father might have, and so on.

I reread some of my favorite short texts to study how they crafted such emotionally poignant stories with so few words: Jean Toomer’s Cane, Sandra Cisneros’ The House on Mango Street, Justin Torres’ We the Animals, and Jacqueline Woodson’s Red at the Bone. I think I was watching Gilmore Girls and Pachinko—among many other shows—and I was listening to Klassy’s new album, Good Seeds, as I revised.

Where and when did you write the book? Describe the scene, the time of day, or any necessary accoutrements.

I have very little memory of any of this. I was still a full-time classroom teacher, and my son was a toddler. I wrote whenever and wherever I could. There was probably a lot of coffee involved.

What was the most challenging part of writing this book? And the most rewarding?

The answer to both is the research. It’s my first attempt at historical fiction, and I was never a stellar history student. But my YA historical fiction writer friend Stacey Lee gave me some advice: I hired a research assistant, I traveled to many of the places I was writing about, and I connected with organizations like the Tobera Project and Watsonville is in the Heart, who gave me access to their digital archives.

What books releasing this fall are you personally most eager to get your hands on?

So many. When the World Tips Over by Jandy Nelson. Pick the Lock by A.S. King. Twenty-Four Seconds From Now… by Jason Reynolds. Sunderworld: The Extraordinary Disappointments of Leopold Berry by Ransom Riggs. Onyx & Beyond by Amber McBride. The Bletchley Riddle by Ruta Sepetys and Steve Sheinkin. To name a few. I’ve also already had the privilege to read Heir by Sabaa Tahir and Midnights With You by Clare Osongco, and I can’t wait for readers to discover those stories.

Laura Simeon is a young readers’ editor.